Great Work Interview Prof. Isaac Getz author of Freedom, Inc.

Isaac’s interview

MARCH 5, 2010

Professor Isaac Getz is the professor of Idea, Initiative and Innovation Management at the ESCP Europe Business School and author of a new book that gets right to the very heart of what it takes to do Great Work in an organization: Freedom Inc.

It’s a terrific book and follows on nicely from the previous interview with Bob Cialdini. The book tells the stories of organizations that are approaching work by thinking about how to work differently and succeeding because of this approach. The subtitle says it all: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to High Productivity, Profits and Growth. Isaac incorporates his own background of innovation but looks at a bigger picture of how work is evolving, and that’s what we talk about in this interview. We discuss:

How the style of “liberating leaders” is the starting point for any Freedom Inc.

The importance of people feeling intrinsically equal – and what that actually means

The impact of a lessening of control from the top – and the impact that has on agility and ability to serve your customers